The Tenant
by My-Little-Samurai
Summary: Kaoru Kamiya, a modern day tomboy. Aoshi Shinimori, an ever so traditional man. Who knew two completely opposite people could live in the same house… and NOT kill each other? KaoruAoshi


Disclaimer: Heh, what makes you think I own Rurouni Kenshin if I'm writing fanfiction?

Summary: Kaoru Kamiya, a modern day tomboy. Aoshi Shinimori, an ever so traditional man. Who knew two completely opposite people could live in the same house… and NOT kill each other?

Author's Note: Yeah, your basic boy and girl hate each other plot. Set in modern time. The school information and grading systems are based on the AMERICAN ones, so please don't correct me on those points.

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CHARACTER INFO: 

Kaoru Kamiya-  
Age: 18 (high school senior)  
Occupation: Student; part time waitress  
Character Summary: Her tomboyish attitude, but in this story, I've also decided to make her smart. NOT overly smart, but smart enough to get by.

Kenshin Himura-  
Age: 29  
Occupation: high school teacher  
Character Summary: Kenshin is a kind of older brother to Kaoru and her English teacher as well. There is not romantic relationship going on between them. Kenshin is married to Kaoru's older sister Tomoe.

Tomoe (Yukishiro) Himura-  
Age: 31  
Occupation: house wife  
Character Summary: Tomoe is a traditional Japanese woman, something like Aoshi. She doesn't have a job because she chooses not to work. Even though that sounds pretty selfish of her, she is one of the most unselfish people you'll ever meet. Sometimes, it even gets a little annoying how unselfish she is.

Aoshi Shinimori-  
Age: 29 (graduated from high school at 18 yrs, graduated from college at 22 yrs, and graduated med school at 29)  
Occupation: Physician; landlord  
Character Summary: His stoic face and brilliant mind. Yes, Aoshi must be the perfect man. Oh yeah, he also has an unhealthy obsession with the traditional Japanese culture.

Hanya Kagitsume (made up the last name)-  
Age: 29  
Occupation: Physician  
Character Summary: He graduated from the same school as Aoshi and even works at the same place. He is Aoshi's best friend. Because of his hideous face, though, Hanya wears a mask.

There will be more character summaries in the next chapter.

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The Tenant: Chapter One

_Boarding room available; includes private bathroom and furnishings. _

_The house is a traditional Japanese house with shoji doors and wooden floors. Meals are self-served, but the tenant is free to whatever may be in the refrigerator at any given time. The room contains a futon, a dresser drawer, closet, and small television set. _

_There is only one vacancy; first come, first serve. _

Aoshi Shinimori silently folded the newspaper in half as he took a small sip of his soup. He couldn't believe that he actually allowed his best friend, Hanya, make this ad. His peaceful and solitary life-style was going to be ruined just because _Hanya_ believed he was too lonely. He liked being lonely. Friendship with Hanya and small acquaintances here and there were the only relationships he would ever need. Plus, he had Misao, a loud mouth teenager, stalking him, so technically he was never alone. Hanya, on the other hand, never backed down and eventually Aoshi surrendered. It was going to be temporary, just a little test run.

"Are you regretting you decision?" Hanya crossed his arms on the table as he leaned forwards to examine Aoshi's facial expressions.

"Yes." Aoshi let out calmly as he glanced up at Hanya. They knew each other for a long time, ever since the beginning of medical school, which took up about seven years of his life. Now, both Hanya and Aoshi were newly graduated physicians hired by a prominent hospital and paid a large sum every other week.

Hanya let out a small laugh as he moved to adjust his mask. "Somehow, I knew you would." Hanya glanced down at the letter in his hand. His eyes then shifted to the newspaper on the left side of the table, resting neatly next to Aoshi's elbow. "Even though this newspaper is almost one week old, you still bring it around?"

Aoshi nodded as his eyes darted around the small restaurant. "It reminds me of the huge mistake _you_ made at my expense."

"What do you mean?"

Aoshi shook his head as he leaned in to talk to Hanya (the restaurant was getting a little crowded and noisy), "This will alter my whole life-style up till now. I won't be able to keep the house to myself anymore and I'll be sharing it with someone I don't know."

Hanya grinned, "That's the fun part, you get to make a new friend. I mean, besides Misao and I, all your other relationships are professional ones." Hanya fingered the letter in his hand as he once again tried to figure out Aoshi's emotions at that given moment. Aoshi's stoic face, however, didn't waver, providing a large disappointment for Hanya.

"Hanya, what's that piece of paper in your hand? You've been playing with it ever since you walked in here."

"Well, you see it's a letter from your future tenant. We were supposed to meet her here today, but she's already half an hour late."

"So that's the reason you asked me to come here." This came out more of a statement than anything else, causing Hanya to chuckle a little.

"Yeah, you see this came in the mail three days ago. I didn't tell you about it because I thought you would probably change your mind. Anyway, your tenant's probably going to be a cute school girl. I can imagine it, waking up everyday to the aroma of breakfast every morning, coming home to a cute girl every evening, and sharing a delicious dinner every night. I have to admit, Aoshi, I'm pretty jealous."

"How do you even know if she's cute or if she can cook?"

"Well, I mean, what kind of girl can't cook? Almost every woman I've met can cook. C'mon Aoshi, try to think positive."

Aoshi closed his eyes, "Hanya, what kind of respectable woman would be thirty minutes late to a meeting?"

"Maybe, there's traffic or something."

CRASH.

Aoshi and Hanya glanced at the door where a young woman stood in the midst of destroyed plates and scattered foods. She suddenly jumped up and fervently apologized to the waitress. While she was occupied with apologizing, Hanya and Aoshi took a moment to examine her. She was wearing a shirt that was at least four sizes too big and baggy shorts that reached well beyond her knees. Cuts and bruises lined the exposed portions of her legs and led to two worn sneakers. Her hair was held up in a high ponytail, but her bangs messily hung around her dirt covered face. With one hand she helped the waitress up, with the other she clung to her skateboard. All in all, this girl was definitely the most unusual girl they've ever seen.

Her loud, obnoxious voice reached the ears of the two men as she practically screamed out what she wanted to ask the hostess before crashing into the waitress.

"Gomen nasi, I was wondering if two men came in here by the name of Aoshi Shinimori and Hanya Kagitsume." She continued talking, ignorant of the fact that she completely butchered the two names and the men she was asking for was only about three feet from where she was standing.

Hanya looked at the girl with horror as Aoshi shook his head, this could _not_ be the girl he was suppose to live with. How would he be able to put up with a girl like _her_?

"Dear lord, Aoshi, this girl's the exact opposite of what I was hoping. Doesn't matter to me, though, because I'm not the one suffering."

"Hanya, do you think she would be offended if we told her we changed our mind?"

Before Hanya could respond, a new presence arrived at the table. "Excuse me, but are you Aoshi Shinimori and Hanya Kagitsume?" The two men nodded, "Well, there's a Kaoru Kamiya here to join your party. I'm just informing you of her arrival." Once again the two men nodded as the hostess turned to leave.

"Aoshi, I think it's too late. She's making her way here now. Jeez, doesn't she believe in first impressions?"

"Ano, sorry I'm late. I hope you guys didn't wait so long."

"You're thirty minutes late." Aoshi cut in bluntly as he took a sip of his coffee.

Kaoru let this rude reply slide pass as she pulled an empty seat from another table and seated herself at the empty side of the small square table. "Did you guys already eat? I'm famished."

Hanya in reply summoned a waitress and Kaoru ordered her food. "So, who's the owner of the house? I'm sure it can't be you," Kaoru joked while pointing at Aoshi, "You don't really seem the type to do this sort of thing."

"I'm not, but unfortunately I'm also the landowner."

"You must be joking, right?" Kaoru attempted to laugh it off as she backed up a bit to allow the waitress to place the food on the table, "I mean, excuse me for being rude, but a stiff like you?"

"Yes, as you so eloquently put it, a 'stiff' like me." Aoshi's face gave no sign of emotion at all as he replied with her choice of words. "Anyway, on to more important issues, are you absolutely sure that you want to move in?"

"Of course," Kaoru replied as she stuffed her mouth with a spoonful of food, "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure."

"Secondly, when would you like to see the place and when are you expected to move in?"

"Today."

"You want to see the place today?"

"Also move in."

"Today?" Aoshi repeated dumbly as he stared at the girl with his 'don't mess with me' stare.

"Yup."

"But you haven't seen the place yet." Aoshi continued his staring at the young girl before him. She was the exact opposite of the ideal girl he had in mind. Aoshi, if asked what kind of girl he preferred, would reply: "a nice quiet girl. The traditional kind, if possible. One that can cook, clean, does house work in general, and doesn't get in my way." The person speaking to Aoshi would then say, "No wonder you're still single. I wonder if you've even been on a date before." Aoshi would then nod silently, letting the comment pass. Of course he's dated before, how do you think he could come up with a profile of his ideal woman if he didn't?

"It doesn't matter, it's the only place I can afford right now and it seems interesting. I mean there aren't a lot of traditional Japanese homes around anymore." Aoshi glanced at Hanya when Kaoru made this comment, a silent question passed between the two of them. Exactly how much did Hanya say the rent was? Hanya's eyes sparkled mischievously behind his plastic mask as it hid his grin.

"Well, Aoshi and I would love to escort you to the house. When will your things arrive?"

"Oh, they're already here."

Hanya glanced around for any stray luggage, but found none. "Where are they?"

"I left them outside."

Aoshi covered his face with his hand, what kind of girl was this? She was so… weird, for lack of a better term. Within a few minutes, Kaoru was finished with her food. The trio went outside to retrieve Kaoru's luggage.

"Oh damn, I forgot where I put them."

Once again, Hanya and Aoshi wondered at the intelligence of the woman named Kaoru Kamiya. She scratched her head as she glanced around the area. Spotting a random person in the alleyway between the restaurant and adjacent building, Kaoru called out to him. The person emerged and regarded Kaoru with a disgruntled look.

"I remember you were here when I first arrived, do you happen to know where I put my suitcases?"

"That raggedy old thing you dumped into the trash bin?"

"Oh, that's right. Thank you very much." Kaoru thrust her hand into her pocket and pulled out a couple of bills, "Thanks again." Kaoru shoved the money into the man's hand and hastily made her way to the back of the alleyway to claim her stuff.

The man was a hobo with rags for clothes and broken sandals for shoes. Aoshi noticed that Kaoru gave the man too much money than she should have, did she not realize _how_ much she gave him? Kaoru's personality had so many flaws in it that Aoshi found himself slightly annoyed by her. He started toying with the idea of murdering Hanya for putting him in such a position. Aoshi and Hanya waited outside the alley as they waited for Kaoru to get her stuff.

Once she emerged from the dark alley, the trio hailed a taxi and continued on to the house. All three of them, during the ride, were lost in their own thoughts. Kaoru was excited about seeing the house and eventually living there. Aoshi was mentally stabbing Hanya for all the trouble this would cause him and Hanya was grinning behind his plastic mask. This would certainly be the beginning of an _interesting_ relationship.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Yeah, first chapter finished. I hope you guys liked it, but in my opinion, I think I made Kaoru too tomboyish and Aoshi too emotionless. Towards the end I tried to make Aoshi more emotional _inwardly_ with the whole 'mentally stabbing Hanya.' Later on, I'll make him more emotional. Hanya, I made him a bit sadistic. I think it fits his character. Well, all in all, the characters were OOC. I also think this chapter could use some editing, which I'll probably do when I have time later on. Finals are just about to start, so I may not be able to update until June. **

**Anyway, I hope you leave any comments, criticisms, and nonsense I need to read. **

**shoji- the sliding paper doors **

**futon- similar to a campingbed, it's just like a mat**


End file.
